Secondary application - I don't understand something about the process

[OuiOuiMonAmi]

I underdstand that putting several choices down does not reduce your chances of getting your highest preference. But does it reduce your chances of getting your 2nd preference?

We've put a pipe-dream as a 1st choice but are happy with our realistic 2nd choice. But, when looking at our 2nd choice school, does the computer go through all the people who have put it as their first and then it could get filled up before it gets to those who have put it as a 2nd? Hope that makes sense!

If what you say is correct, how come time and time again, children who don't put the most popular school down as their first choice end up not getting a place over others who live further away but did put it as first choice? I've taught enough year six classes to know this is what happens, every year!

This apparently happened in dc’s year.

In reality, what had happened was child wanted to go to school a. Mum wanted child to go to school b. Mum filled out preferences school b first choice, a second, but didn’t tell child.

Child gets school b. Mum has to say they didn’t get school a.

The important bit is that you will never move from your original position in the ordered list of 300 children who applied to School B.

AHA! Thanks SO much everyone, I really have got it now :)

A pipe-dream first choice with a realistic second choice (and presumably a back up third choice?) is a sensible approach!

I did put down 2 other schools but there was no point really as 3rd choice would be home education.

This thread just helped my penny drop too

I have a really important question though... is the deadline midnight tonight or midnight tomorrow night?

The deadline is tomorrow.

Soontobe if you are in England or Wales what you are suggesting happens would be illegal, does not happen, you do not understand the system, and if you are telling this stuff to parents you are very seriously misleading them. Quite frankly people who spread misinformation are a menace in schools admissions.

OP:

1. Every school ranks every single applicant in order of how they meet the published admissions criteria. Every applicant, no matter where on the list they placed the school. The school sends the ranked list to the LA, telling them which applicants they could admit.

1. The LA checks each applicant, and if an applicant gets an offer from more than one school, they allocate the applicant with the place that is HIGHEST up tne it list. All the other offers go back in the pot.

So: the school does not take into consideration where on your list you placed them, only how you meet the criteria.

You will be offered the highest school in your list that could fit you in.

This means you are safe to list schools in the exact order you prefer them.

You will not stand less of a chance at a school just because you put it at the bottom.

The only things that would stop you gettungbthst school (if it can offer you a place) is getting an offer from a school you like better, higher up the list.

This is law, throughout England and Wales. It is called the Equal Preference System.

Ok what about this scenario - we get offered choice 3 on our list on offer day but stay on the waiting list for choices 1 and 2. By this point we’ve changed our minds. We no longer want choice 2 as we’re happy with 3 but would hold out for our first choice. Would it be possible to hold onto a place at 3rd choice school. Reject an offer from choice 2 if it comes further down the line, but stay on the waiting list for choice 1?

Lima; you could stay in tne waiting list for 1. but ask to came off the waiting list for 2.

Most LAs tell you you have a waiting list place and give you a few days to accept or decline, but a few just automatically re-allocate you a new place if a higher choice comes up, so worth checking what your LA does.

Venus, that was supre helpful, too and consolidated my understanding. I think what was confusing me was that I didn't realise the central system had several rounds of allocations.

Another question - who actually checks that students are correctly admitted under the right criteria - the school or the LEA? I'm thinking of a scenario I heard from friends where one pupil got in under a criteria they shouldn't have got in under Who's responsibility would it have been - school or LEA?

who actually checks that students are correctly admitted under the right criteria - the school or the LEA

The admission authority is responsible for sorting this out. If the school is an academy or VA school it is its own admission authority. If it is a community or VC school the LA is the admission authority. No-one independently checks their work. The LA may do some basic sense checking if the school is its own admission authority but they won't go through everything in detail. If a single child has been placed in the wrong category they probably won't notice.

In the scenario you describe, the pupil who missed out on a place as a result of the error would have a good case for appeal provided they had evidence of the mistake.